Happy 30th!

Today marks a momentous day in the life of one of my absolute nearest and dearest friends (who happens to be my husband's big sis). Convenient for me isn't it?

Mentor.

Encourager.

Life of the party (maybe you remember me mentioning this when blogging about Walker's birthday - they definitely inherited the same Fain-fun-gene).

Contagious laughter.

Devoted wife and mother.

I without a doubt would not be where I am in my faith today without her guidance during my impressionable high school years.

I love you Lele and hope your 30th is absolutely fabulous!

Yosemite.

My apologies for the vacation-blogging hiatus (I know you all have been waiting on pins and needles for the next installment). A million things have been going on around here, but I know I would regret not documenting the trip in its entirety, so I'll try to play catch up on more recent events in the next few days. For now, backtrack a few weeks, and welcome to YOSEMITE!

Good grief this place is fantastic. So stunningly beautiful and BIG, it is hard to capture its enormity in photos or describe its beauty in words.

We stayed at the charming Highland House Bed & Breakfast just outside the Valley, and it was the picture of peacefulness.

At the bottom-right of the picture you will spy Walker in the process of getting dominated at Worst-Case-Scenario-Survival game. My almost-medical degree may or may not have given me the edge to questions like "How to avoid Schistosomiasis Worms When Traveling Abroad", "How to recognize cat-scratch fever", "How to handle a dismembered toe", "What is an air embolism?", "How to recognize Scromboid Poisoning after eating fish", etc. Regardless, it was a legitimate win in my book :)

Our first day in the park we decided to tackle the trail to Upper Yosemite Falls. Warned that it was "very strenuous", "entirely uphill", "probably some snow at the top", etc., we packed our backpacks appropriately and mentally prepared for the challenge. Yikes. It was TOUGH. We rated it just under a half-marathon in terms of difficulty. Pictured below is the Yosemite Falls (see tiny Walker in the bottom right?).

To be honest, when we saw it in person we balked a little bit, but we are not ones to back down from a challenge, so on we went. Now, get excited. Thanks to my fancy-schmancy iPhone I have video! This is about 1/4 of the way up. (Make sure your volume is up. We were amazed at the number of languages we heard spoken during our time in Yosemite. It is apparently quite the multi-cultural tourist destination.)

About 1/3 of the way up we got our first view of the Falls since starting at the bottom.

At this point we were pretty darn tired, and looking up at the top of the falls wondering what in the world we had gotten ourselves in to. 

Turns out "some snow at the top" turned out to be quite an understatement. The last approximately 2300 feet of elevation of our ascent were entirely snow. Trails essentially disappeared, and we relied on the 6-12 inch wide snow tracks to lead us up (along with the other hikers we saw on the trail, don't worry there were plenty of people making the trek with us). 

Our tennis shoes made for less than adequate snow attire. Conversation stopped, and we focused only on the next 5-10 feet of snow ahead of us. 7000 ft of elevation (and 4 hours) after we started, we finally made it to the top. I will never forget that view. Totally worth the sweat, effort, sore muscles, and soaked feet.

Hands down the most beautiful view I've ever experienced during a meal (lunch thanks to our innkeeper Mike, who we loved).

The falls looked so tiny at their beginning, it was hard to believe they turned into something so spectacular when viewing them from the Valley floor. 

The hike down (at least the part through snow) took just as long as our trek up. The grip (or lack thereof) of my tennis shoes on the snow made me pretty nervous about slipping, so (in my shorts mind you), I plopped down on the snow and essentially [insert your favorite term for that body part below your spine]-slid down the trails. It was my own personal luge. Walker laughed at my ridiculousness, but I suffered no slippage. For some reason I thought it would be a better idea to take a picture in front of this beautiful view of Half Dome on the way down instead of stopping on our hike up. I made it black-and-white to lessen some of the dirt and sweat on our faces.

We crashed exhausted and happy that night, and decided the remainder of our time would be spent doing less strenuous activities.

The hike to the base of the waterfall pictured above and below (BridalVeil Falls) is short and great. We had been warned to wear rain gear, and I'm glad we were. 

We drove to other breathtaking viewpoints, visited the famous Ahwahnee Hotel, and mentally soaked up the views from the Valley. Next we headed to Mariposa Grove, where we FINALLY saw the giant trees we had been searching for. The road to the Grove had just opened a few days before we arrived, so we again had the pleasure of hiking through snow (this time in Chaco's secondary to our soaking shoes from the day prior).

 

If you look at the photo on the right, there is a branch about 1/2 of the way up on the right that is 7 feet in diameter. 7 FEET! These things were enormous and worth our efforts.

I love things in nature that make me feel small and sit in awe of our Creator's handiwork, and Yosemite might top the list at this point in my life. If you ever get the chance, GO! Worth the travel effort, I promise.

One more (quick) leg of our trip to cover, and the tour-de-Cali will be complete. Be back soon!

Monterey/Carmel

Welcome to our favorite peninsula. Two years ago I watched Walker's eyes light up like a little kid when he drove up and down this coast, so even though we had visited before, we couldn't go out to California and not spend time here.

Sunset #1
Neither of us had ever watched the sun setting perfectly over the ocean (if only the Gulf faced west?), and this trip provided us two splendid opportunities. We parked our car directly facing this. Not bad huh?

Food
Very important to the Fain's. Also important is eating at local jaunts, so much research goes into finding local fare that won't break the bank and helps us gain a better feel for the area. This is the only place I photographed, but trust me, our bellies stayed happy.

Point Lobos
Spectacular State Reserve with miles of trails and breathtaking views.

Animal life abounds, and it was so fun seeing them in their natural environment.

Not a bad place to live, right?

(Not dead, I promise. Just sunning.)

Highway 1
Our original plan was to drive Highway 1 down to Big Sur like we had done two years prior, but unfortunately road work prevented us from getting more than a few miles down. Two other tourists who happened to be pulled off at the same spot snapped this photo for us, and it cracks me up. Walker is normally so photogenic, but he managed to pull off about 8 with this goofy look and awkward chin-tilt (this was the most normal of the bunch). The background was just too pretty not to share.

Sunset #2
We spent about an hour before and after dinner sitting on driftwood at the beach in Carmel just soaking it in.

If we could do this for a couple of hours every day stress would be nonexistent in our lives.

After dinner we came right back to this spot.

We watched surfers (see the tiny black dots in the water?),

exercisers (if you have to be doing side-planks, can you imagine a better place?),

and about 20 of what have to be the world's luckiest dogs. As one local resident was letting her shaking-he-was-so-excited dog off the leash to splash in the surf, she turned to us and said "it just doesn't get much better does it?". No mam, it certainly doesn't.

Just as I was admiring the beautiful affect the light was having on the sand and water, a giant wave came and make me regret (but only a little) my desire to actually have my toes in the sand right on the waters edge. The camera was safe, but I spent the rest of the evening with wet, sandy jeans. Totally worth it though.

Wine Country
We spent half a day in Carmel Valley seeing what their wine country had to offer. More rolling hills, beautiful vineyards, and great conversation.

From there, our drive to Yosemite looked like this. Not bad, right?

Until next time!

(Isn't he cute? Such a good sport letting me take so many solo shots of him while I adjust the settings on the camera.)